Sky and the BBC have been jointly awarded the rights to Formula 1 motor racing between 2012 and 2018. The BBC had been under pressure to shed Formula 1, because of the disproportion of cost to the number of viewers the competition brings in.
Under the split rights half of the races and qualifying sessions will remain live on the BBC, including key races such at the British Grand Prix, Monaco Grand Prix and the final race of the season. Extensive highlights will be available for those races to which the BBC does not have live coverage.

Sky will show every race live with both broadcasters making using of online and mobile platforms.

Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: “This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD. We will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television. As well as unrivalled build up to each race on Sky Sports News, we will broadcast in-depth live coverage of every session. Sky customers with Sky Sports will also be able to enjoy F1TM across multiple platforms and devices, including Sky Go.”

Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, added. “With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence fee payers.”

Sky Press Release

BBC and Sky Partner for Live Formula 1TM Rights

BBC TV and Sky Sports have been awarded the live rights to Formula 1TM between 2012 and 2018.
The move will bring increased choice, innovation and breadth of coverage to UK and Irish motor racing fans.
The two leading UK sports broadcasters will offer fans unparalleled live High Definition coverage of every race of the season.
The broadcasting partnership will include:
•All races, qualifying and practice sessions live on Sky Sports across TV, Online and Mobile and Tablet devices.
Half the races and qualifying sessions remain live on BBC TV, Online and Mobile including key races such at the British Grand Prix, Monaco Grand Prix and the final race of the season.
Extensive BBC highlights on TV, Online and Mobile, of all races and qualifying sessions that BBC is not covering live.
Build up coverage of each Grand Prix on BBC News, Sky Sports News and Sky News.
Extensive multi-platform coverage including red button, bbc.co.uk/sport and skysports.com
The audiences brought by Sky and BBC will ensure Formula 1TM reaches the widest possible audience. BBC Radio Five and Sports Extra will continue to cover every race live.

Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, said: "We are absolutely delighted that F1TM will remain on the BBC. The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10 year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments. With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence fee payers."

Barney Francis, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said: "This is fantastic news for F1TM fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD. We will give F1TM the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television. As well as unrivalled build up to each race on Sky Sports News, we will broadcast in-depth live coverage of every session. Sky customers with Sky Sports will also be able to enjoy F1TM across multiple platforms and devices, including Sky Go."

Formula 1TM will join the line-up of live sport on Sky Sports, which marked its 20th birthday in April. Subscribers can enjoy Barclays Premier League and UEFA Champions League football, England Test matches, three of golf’s four Majors including the Masters from Augusta, international, European and domestic rugby union, Super League rugby and a host of other sports events.

Note to editors – if there are an odd number of races in the season, the final selection will be screened exclusively live by Sky Sports

Thursday, July 28, 2011

BBC Worldwide is launching its global iPlayer service today, via an iPad app that will be made available in 11 countries in Western Europe. The US, Canada and Australia will follow later this year, as part of what is intended to be a one-year pilot.

The service will offer a limited amount of content for free, supported by pre-roll ads and sponsorship, but its core business model is subscription, with users paying €6.99 a month or €49.99 a year. The 11 launch countries are Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.

The global iPlayer app includes some features that are not in the UK version, including the ability to stream shows over 3G as well as Wi-Fi, and a downloading feature to store programmes on the iPad for offline viewing.

"We think we have a load of unmet demand for BBC and British content internationally," said BBC.com managing director Luke Bradley-Jones in an interview with Apps Blog.

"This is not a catch-up service: this is a video-on-demand service. We will have content from the last month, but also the best from the catalogue stretching back 50 to 60 years."

Users will be able to search for specific shows or browse genres including comedy and drama, but BBC Worldwide has also hired a team of editors to curate the international iPlayer.

Their focus will be on pulling together themed collections around specific shows or special events. An example of the former is Doctor Who, which is getting separate collections of episodes based on individual Doctors - The Tennant Years, The Ecclestone Years and so on - as well as one focused purely on episodes featuring the Daleks.

"There is at least 1,500 hours of content there from day one, and it will be growing by at least 100 hours a month going forward," said Mark Smith, launch director, global iPlayer at BBC Worldwide.

"Most audiences know the big shows like Top Gear or Doctor Who, but maybe not so much about other shows, so we have been working hard on how we surface that content."

At launch, the 11 countries will be seeing the same iPlayer homepage and collections, but over time, there will be scope for the global iPlayer team to flag up different content based on local demand.

At launch, 60% of the global iPlayer content has been produced and commissioned by the BBC, while 30% has been commissioned by the BBC but produced by independents. The other 10% is entirely non-BBC content, including ITV's Primeval, and Channel 4's The Naked Chef and Misfits.

How will the global iPlayer's content fit in with windows for broadcast and DVD? BBC content will generally transmit first on terrestrial channels in the 11 countries, before appearing on the iPlayer.

Once shows are added, they will generally stay available for the long-term, although "a handful of top brands" will receive different treatment to take into account DVD releases or specific terrestrial scheduling initiatives.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

A recent request for information at the BBC has brought to attention the time watsed with pointless requencts to companies and public sector areas ndder the Freedom of Information Act.

Using the Freedom of Information act the BBC was asked:

"What are your plans if zombies invade the country, will you continue to entertain them as you do with us average humans? Will your shows retain the standard English language or random moaning?"

The BBC's reply brushes aside the request, saying the information requested "is excluded from the [Freedom of Information] Act because it is held for the purposes of 'journalism, art or literature'".

But at least someone at the BBC retains a sense of humour: "However, I believe we can fairly safely say that the BBC does not hold any recorded information about plans to entertain any future zombie population."

Monday, July 25, 2011

Further details have been revealed about the global BBC iPlayer, which is soon to launch in Europe. It will launch as an Apple iPad app and will support downloads to the device, allowing users to view programmes more than once, for an unlimited time, so long as they maintain their subscription to the service. In practice, the number of programmes that can be stored will be limited by the capacity of the device.

BBC Worldwide chief executive John Smith told the industry magazine Broadcast that it will be a “Best of British” proposition, with both new programmes and library material. He said there will be “thousands of hours at launch, and more built up over time”. The catalogue will be curated, with plans to feature packages of similar themes or genres, with social, genre-based events to promote archive material alongside new releases.

The service will initially go live in Western Europe this summer. Users will be able to download the iPad app for free, but will need to pay a subscription of $10, around £6.20, a month for access to the service.

It appears that the service will also carry pre-roll advertising. The national tourism agency VisitBritain has signed up as one of the first advertising partners, promoting the country in anticipation of the Queen’s diamond jubilee and the London Olympics in 2012.

The support for downloads will be welcomed by users, although the number of programmes that can be retained on an iPad will be limited by available storage capacity.

BBC Worldwide already sells large library of programmes through Apple iTunes under the banner “the best of British TV”. We can expect to see many of the same titles available through the Global iPlayer on a subscription basis.

Jana Bennett, who is ultimately responsible for the Global iPlayer at BBC Worldwide, recently said at the Banff World Television Festival: “our ambition is to present a timeless mix of classic and contemporary UK creativity, showcasing the best of British content from the 1950s to the present day. Vintage British creativity but fresh and for the future.”

BBC Worldwide saw over 12 million downloads of apps for smartphones and tablets in the last year, of which 9 million were Lonely Planet travel apps for smartphones and Apple iPads. Other titles included an international news app, a Doctor Who game and recipe apps. BBC Worldwide will no doubt be hoping for significantly more downloads for the Global iPlayer.

The public service BBC iPlayer is available in the United Kingdom as a free iPad app but currently only supports streaming of programmes rather than downloads, effectively limiting usage on the move. It offers access to BBC channels and a wide range of catch-up programming that will not be available on the BBC Global iPlayer.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Simply No.
Freesat is a UK TV service offering UK free to air channels.
You can also not get any Spanish TV hcannel on Sky TV in SPain either.
TVE International used to be the only Spanish TV channel on Sky TV , but that was removed last year.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

It has been confirmed that Sky TV will be freezing their subscription prices until the 31st August 2012, for customers who join prior to 31st August 2011. It has also been confirmed that Sky TV will be changing thier channel structure.

Gone are the 6 genre mixes of Variety, Knowledge, Lifestyle, Music, Childrens and News and Events.

In comes Entertainment and Entertainment Extra, two new packs with a mixture of channels from the current genres.

From initial channel lists, it looks like the current Variety and Lifestyle genres will be in the Entertainment pack. This pack will cost £20.

The other four genres, Music, News and Events, Knowledge and Childrens, wil be included in the Entertainment Extra mix. The cost of Entertainment and Entertainment Extra per month will be £25.

However, you will not lose channels with this Sky channel shuffle around. In fact, Sky TV says that you will still receive all the channels you currently receive now. And some clients will receive more channels, yet, pay the same subscription as they currently do. At least for one year..more of which later.

So, if my understanding of the new system is correct, if you currently have two genres, for example the Variety and Childrens, and currently pay £20.50, then from 1st September, you will still pay £20.50, thanks to the price freeze for exisiting cSky TV customers, and will also have access to all channel in the Entertainment pack, and all channels in the Entertainment Extra pack, due to the changes in the genres.

However, you will see your price increase in 1st September 2012 to £25 (or more if they increase it!), when the price freeze no longer appllies and you are upgraded to the correct subscription price.

All new Sky TV customers signing up after 31st August 2011 will pay either £20 or £25 per month.

So for 1 year you can be paying the same price as you are currently, but then in 1 years time your price may well increase.

The Sky Sports and Sky Movie channel prices have also been frozen for 1 year. So in addition to your "Genre" or Entertainment mix price, these prices will be applied for the premium Sky TV channels.

Single Movie Pack: £8.00
Both Movie Packs: £16.00
Single Sports PAck: £12.50
Both Sports Packs: £20.00
Single Movies and Single Sport Pack: £18.75
Both Movies and Single Sports Pack: £24.00
Both Sports and Single Movies Pack: £24.00
Both Sports and Both Movies Pack: £28.00

What does this mean for Sky TV subscribers in Spain. Well you do not have to do anything at all, all of the changes will be done automatically.

Spanish media reports that Gandia Town Hall has closed its local TV channel "Gandia Televisio", with the loss of 30 jobs.

Reports say that the closure of Gandia TV is a temporary measure, while the correct broadcast licence is obtained. This is due to a regional Valencian government case against Gandia TV for not having the correct licence.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Sky has recruited Spurs and England striker Peter Crouch and rapper Dizzee Rascal for a new advertisement that will promote the new Sky Go service.
Launching this month, Sky Go is a multiscreen service that will allow Sky subscribers access to Sky content across a range of devices including the iPhone, iPad and laptop.

The 60-second ad, which was created by Brothers & Sisters and premieres today, illustrates the flexibility of Sky Go by featuring sports fans miraculously folding one device into another using only their bare hands. Crouch, known for his goal celebrations, adds a new one called ‘The Fold’ to his repertoire. Rascal performs a rap against a backdrop of glamorous dancers and folding TV screens that display live sports coverage as they fold into phones.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

You access the signal test screen on a sky box via the services, signal test option.

This is a test screen and shows the signal strength and signal quality of a particular satellite signal.

In most cases the satellite frequency that this test screen measures is frequency 11778 v 27.5 2/3.

This is a weak satellite frequency in Spain. It is a weak Astra 2 north beam frequency. This frequency is weakest at 5pm. In many areas of Spain in the afternoon this frequency can be unavailable, even on the big 2.4m Portuguese Famaval satellite dishes.

So it is entirely possible for this signal test screen on a Sky box to show "not locked" or no signal at all, yet you are still able to receive other frequencies (and channels).

The loss of these satellite frequencies can be reduced with an accurately aligned satellite dish.

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